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Ready to Go Back to Lonely Island?
Very early impressions of a new podcast that turns out to be a potent slice of nostalgic millennial history.
Meyers, whom you can also find on the Apple Charts podcasting about vacations with his brother Josh on Family Trips, factors into this history because the Lonely Island’s ascendance took place during his tenure as head writer(2006-2014); early in the first episode, he talks about the trio’s integration into SNL as a kind of pivot point for when he started to feel settled in the role. Which is true, but in telling this story, Meyers is also establishing the scene and vividly conjuring the feeling of that particular moment in time: the mid-to-late 2000s stretch when we were not yet addicted to smartphones; when the superhero film genre was defined by very good movies by Sam Raimi and Christopher Nolan; when Magnolia Cupcakes were still hot commodities; and when three doofy guys could move the culture with a string of music parodies that were so phallic, so stupid, and so utterly sublime. The short’s success cemented the trio’s standing within Saturday Night Live, and not only would they go on to function as SNL ’s bridge into digital ubiquity — just think about how many people primarily interface with the show on YouTube today instead of actually watching the broadcast — but their contributions would play a meaningful role in helping usher in a new age for the institution.
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